Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The volume of trading in Canada’s
fixed-income market declined 7 percent in the past year as
foreign banks scaled back their domestic operations, Greenwich
Associates said.

Increased competition from Canada’s largest banks, along
with high personnel costs and low volatility, have led several
global firms to serve clients internationally, the Stamford,
Connecticut-based research firm said, citing a survey of
institutional investors. Electronic transactions accounted for
48 percent of all fixed-income trading, up from 44 percent in
2013.

“The big Canadian banks are pretty aggressive when it
comes to their domestic marketplace,” Peter Kane, a consultant
with the research firm, said in a phone interview from Toronto.
“There’s lots of competition in the rates market,
specifically.”